


Recover

by WarlockWriter



Series: Salvation 'Verse [8]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Coda to Heaven of Hell, Fluff and Angst, Gratuitous use of fencing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 05:11:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19805446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarlockWriter/pseuds/WarlockWriter
Summary: Little coda to my story A Heaven of Hell. A Hell of Heaven.Lucifer is dead, killed by Castiel from Apocalypse World, which leaves Sam feeling oddly unfulfilled. True, no more worry about being his True Vessel, but no real closure either.Of course, Gabriel has ideas.Beta'd by the awesomeScrollingKingfisherFills the "Cabin in the Woods" square of the Gabriel SPN Bingo 2019





	Recover

**Author's Note:**

> While a part of my massive multi-verse thing, you can probably read this as a stand alone.
> 
> And seriously, Gabriel? This was supposed to be a conversation. How did it turn into a literal fencing match?

Recover refers to the obvious meaning but also the fencing term “return to the _en garde_ position after a lunge”

* * *

Sam awoke with a start. He’d been dreaming again of Lucifer, a common theme in the week since they had defeated him and AU!Michael.

Strong arms encircled him, a pleasant counter to the nightmare. The bed was comfortable, and…wait? Something was stirring the air around him. He opened his eyes to see wood paneled walls? Where was he? He looked to the side where the gentle movement in the air was produced by a set of huge golden wings. They moved slowly back and forth in a soothing rhythm.

“Gabe?”

“Right here, Sam.” The angel’s voice was low and warmed the spot deep within him that had gone cold during the dream.

“Where are we?”

“A cabin the highlands of Malaysia.”

Sam struggled a little to sit up. The cabin was small but comfortable. Most of it was taken up with the king-sized bed they were lying on, both of them in the t-shirt and boxers they’d gone to sleep in back at the Bunker. Gabriel shifted his wings so Sam could see the rest of the room. There was a cozy chair in a corner by the window. A reading lamp created a soft glow that made Sam’s hands itch to sit there, a book propped on his knees. He thought he could lose himself for hours here.

“That’s the idea.”

He was so used to his bonded mate following his thoughts that he barely noticed. Half the time they didn’t speak aloud anymore, at least when they were alone.

“I love this place, but why are we here?”

“I hadn’t been here in a long time, and I wanted to make sure it was still here.”

Sam knew that wasn’t the only reason, and he waited.

“And you were projecting loudly during your nightmare, and I was concerned Griff would pick up on it.” Gabriel shook his head. “I really need to find the time to work with him. His psychic powers are developing faster than are probably good for him.”

Sam felt a surge of shame. He never intended his nightmares to bother anyone. He accepted that Gabriel would be aware of them, but other people in the Bunker?

Gabriel ran a hand down his arm. “It’s fine. This was the first one to get that loud, and I’d been meaning to come here anyway.” He smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Now that I can fly and all.”

Sam smiled back at him. The archangel was so much happier now that he could fly again and looked for almost any excuse to spread his wings. Sam didn’t mind. He enjoyed flying with his mate, and he definitely appreciated looking. And touching. He couldn’t quite feel them but running his fingers through their echo was cool and comforting.

They didn’t actually disturb the air when they moved, but his mate was a drama queen and used grace to stir the air in time with their passage.

Sam watched them sweep back and forth in time with the angel’s breath. “So why are we really here?”

He expected a flip, brush-off answer which would force him to dig, but the angel surprised him by saying, “So you can talk through what’s bothering you.”

Sam tilted his head. “What’s bothering me?”

Gabe huffed out a breath. “Yes, Sam. It’s obvious you’re not letting yourself deal with…my brother’s death. And it’s coming out in your dreams.”

Panic briefly skittered down his spine. He hadn’t wanted Gabriel to know about that. He’d been trying to keep his disquiet about Lucifer’s end from his mate, but he should have realized it wasn’t possible.

“We _are_ bonded,” Gabriel pointed out.

“Yeah. I know.” He sighed and leaned against Gabriel. “All right. If you’re okay with me talking about it.”

“I am.”

Sam sensed that wasn’t an entirely truthful answer, but he appreciated what his mate was offering and decided to accept it. “Okay, sorry to have to dump this on you, but I guess it was just so sudden? He’d been this thing hanging over me for so long, and between one minute and the next, he’s just gone. I don’t really know how to feel about it.”

Gabriel leaned his head against Sam’s back. “Do you have to feel any particular way about it?”

Sam shook his head. “I don’t know? I feel like I should be happy about it? I don’t have to worry about him riding my ass anymore.”

Gabriel being Gabriel, even in the middle of a serious conversation, couldn’t resist. “I’m the only one allowed to ride that ass, Samsquatch.”

Sam very carefully concealed his observation that Gabriel was still unable to ride his ass, but he didn’t mind. Much.

“True,” was all he said. “The problem is that I’m not feeling any of those things. I…guess I’m angry that I didn’t have the chance to do it myself.”

“Kind of glad you didn’t,” Gabriel said, his tone solemn. “I knew it needed to be done. But I’m glad it was Castiel, not my own mate.”

Which made sense to Sam. He knew he’d never have been able to go to sleep each night next to the man who’d killed his brother. Well, Gabe didn’t sleep much, but that wasn’t the point.

Sam closed his eyes, heaved out a sigh and leaned harder against Gabriel. “So, I’m left with thinking that I should be feeling something, but I don’t know what. And then I just dream about him.”

“What are the dreams about?”

Sam turned to regard his mate. “You don’t know?”

“I’m not peeking. Thought you might want some privacy.”

“I guess I do. Thank you. But, well, I dream about the Cage mostly. What he did to me there. How I was never quite real to him.” That thought led to another. “That was one of the worst parts about being linked or, whatever it was, to him during the fight. He hated being bound to me, but the real reason he hated it so much was that I still wasn’t real to him. He would have hated being bound to you because it would have meant he’d lost to his younger brother. But he wouldn’t have hated it as much because at least you’re real to him. I’m not.” Sam knew he’d gone over this ground a year ago, lying beside a Gabriel who was still unable to speak. He thought he’d worked through all that then. Maybe not.

“I think you were the one who told me recovery isn’t linear,” Gabriel observed.

“Yeah, but…”

“But nothing, Sam. It applies to you too.”

Sometimes it was annoying when Gabriel was right.

“Well, then, how do I get the nightmares to stop? I don’t want to keep messing with Griff. Or anyone else.”

Gabriel ran a gentle finger down Sam’s cheek. “Oh no. You don’t get to shift this to be about someone else’s pain, Sam. This is time for you.”

“Then I don’t know what to do,” he admitted. “I wanted the chance to kill Lucifer, even though that would have been completely unfair to you. And I won’t get the chance, so I’m stuck.”

Gabriel snapped his fingers. Suddenly they were elsewhere. Sam looked around. He was dressed in jeans and plaid. An archangel blade lay warm and heavy in his hand. The landscape surrounding them looked like an odd cross between Apocalypse World and Purgatory.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Someplace and noplace,” Gabriel answered unhelpfully.

Lucifer, occupying his Nick vessel, swaggered toward them.

“Gabe?”

“It’s not real,” his mate assured him. “But maybe it will help? He’ll fight back quite convincingly.”

Sam made a point of looking Gabriel in the eyes. The archangel met his gaze squarely. “You’re okay with this?”

“Would I have done it if I weren’t?”

“If you thought I needed it badly enough, yeah, you would.”

Gabriel nodded his head in acknowledgement of the point. “Then don’t ask. Just do what you need to do.”

Translation: Gabriel was very much not okay with this, but he’d do it because he loved Sam.

Sam hefted the blade. It hummed contentedly in his hand, alive in a way Ruby’s knife or a regular angel blade never was. He took several steps forward to meet Lucifer.

“Sam.”

Even Lucifer’s voice was correct, right down to the dismissive tone. Sam had always wondered how he managed to get that across in one word.

Sam said nothing, knowing it was pointless to exchange words with the Father of Lies. Instead, he assumed _en garde_ position. It amused him to use the fencing techniques he’d learned from Gabriel against Lucifer. Even a construct of Lucifer.

Lucifer saluted him with his blade.

Sam lunged. No, it wasn’t playing fair, but this was Satan. He didn’t see the point in playing fair.

Lucifer parried easily and riposted. Sam had to scramble to parry it. Apparently, this Lucifer construct was an accomplished fencer.

Sam recovered from his lunge, Lucifer following, attempting to bind Sam’s blade. Sam danced back on the balls of his feet, using his longer reach to his advantage.

He was thinking quickly. Lucifer might be a construct, but it was being controlled by Gabriel, who was a world class fencer. Sam could only defeat the angel when sparring by being very focused and lucky. Even then, he only won when Gabriel wanted him to. He didn’t think Gabe wanted him to lose this bout, but he also knew this was supposed to be therapeutic, which meant he needed to be prepared to work at it.

Sam settled in to fencing mode. It was different from fighting monsters. Those battles were more about moving quickly, staying out of range, followed by a fast attack which hopefully ended in the death of the monster. Fencing was more about precision and mind games. Like a moving chess match.

Lucifer lunged. Sam parried. He was frustrated by the length of the blade he was wielding. Foils were more than twice the length of an archangel blade. The length of his arms gave him some advantage, but he still needed to get closer than he really liked.

Lucifer pressed him again, and Sam retreated.

Come on, Winchester. You can do this.

The quick pick me up worked. He shifted to a knife fighting grip and closed aggressively with Lucifer, slashing at the construct’s stomach. Lucifer missed the parry, and a blue line of escaping grace blossomed over his stomach. Sam tried to follow it up with another slice, but Lucifer got his blade into position, locking their hilts together. They struggled for a moment, but Sam knew the angel was the stronger one. He twisted his blade to release and danced back.

Lucifer followed, coming in low, and Sam had to dodge to the side to avoid a vicious slash across his thigh. Panting, he followed up with an attack of his own and scored a weak hit on Lucifer’s upper arm.

Sam wondered at the complete silence in his bond with Gabriel. How much was this costing the archangel? Creating a construct of his brother for his mate to kill?

Wanting to finish this quickly, he made several more attacks. Lucifer parried them all, a smirk on his lips. Sam knew the angel was trying to shake him, but Sam had a strategy in mind. Darting in, moving faster than anyone his size should, he grabbed Lucifer’s left arm. The angel pulled against his grip, and Sam used his momentum and the force of the pull to slide the archangel blade under Lucifer’s rib cage, straight for his heart.

Simulated grace exploded around him, and the Lucifer construct vanished.

The artificial landscape faded away, along with the blade in his hand, and Sam found himself back in the cabin, still seated on the bed, facing his mate.

“Did that help?” Gabriel asked.

The bond was still shuttered tightly.

“Yes. But at what cost, Gabe?”

The angel shook his head. “Not important.”

“Fuck that!” Sam reached out and brought his mate in for a tight hug. “Thank you for that. But I never meant for you to do that. Watching me kill your brother?”

“You needed it.”

No give in the bond.

“Let me in, Gabe. The bond is there for comfort to you as well as me.”

It opened a tiny bit, and Sam could feel a hint of emptiness.

_Bond mate. What do you need?_

A long pause, long enough that Sam was convinced his angel wasn’t going to answer.

Finally, _a brother. I need a brother. I love you and need you, but dammit, I need a brother too._

Relief washed through him. Gabe had answered. But how to answer that need? Raphael was gone. Lucifer was dead. They’d just killed AU!Michael, not that he would have been a good option. Who did that leave?

Oh!

_Right?_

Sam considered. _You want to try to break Michael out of the Cage?_

_Yes._

Sam had no idea how they would even do that, but if his mate wanted it?

_All right, then. We’ll try._

_Thank you._

Sam held his angel close. They’d done some crazy things in their life. What was one more? Dean wouldn’t like it, but he’d come around eventually. Cas? If Dean was on board, Cas would go along with it.

_Need to do a few things first._ Gabriel’s sending was tentative.

_You mean Lex?_ Sam was still amused that his mate seemed to want to add another to this crazy bond. But he was willing. He liked the hacker well enough and thought he could love him eventually.

_Yes, that_ . Chagrin was odd to experience through the bond. _Also, Griff. Something tells me we’re going to need him for this._

Sam lay his head on top of Gabriel’s, holding him close, enjoying a these few moments alone with him. Something told him they were going to be rare in the coming months. _Then we’ll train him. Your instincts are usually correct._

A gentle rain started falling outside. Sam listened to the soft patter. For now, this was good. He wanted to stay here for a little while, in this cozy, warm little cabin in the middle of the woods. Plenty of time to tackle other tasks tomorrow.


End file.
